Amazing Grace
by upncomer
Summary: Sequel to 'Here Comes Santa Claus'. Booth and Brennan are sent to investigate remains found at a furniture store but end up coming in contact with someone they never thought they'd meet... Booth's mother.
1. Chapter 1

_AN: There were quite a few people who wanted a sequel to 'Here Comes Santa Claus' and in general I don't like to write them, but an idea came to me and I thought it would work perfectly with that previous story. I'm not totally satisfied with the beginning of this, and I'll admit that it went differently than I had planned, but I hope it's a decent start and I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless._

"Temperance, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to insist that you take off of work until after you have your baby. You're already a centimeter dilated and could conceivably go into labor at any time," Dr. Boyd said to her patient as she snapped off her latex gloves. She could tell by the surly look on the anthropologist's face that the news wasn't well received.

"Dr. Boyd, I'm perfectly capable of working until I go into labor. You yourself have said on many occasions that I've had a very healthy pregnancy, so I really see no reason why I should leave work early."

"It is ultimately your decision, but I would really suggest taking some time off."

"Bones, just listen to her. She knows what she's talking about. Besides, it'll give you some time to spend with Chris before this one's born." Booth looked at Temperance as he said it, trying to help out the doctor. He totally agreed with the obstetrician, but knew that ultimately it was up to his fiancée.

"Look, in one week you'll be considered full term and if you have your baby at that point then it's not a problem. However, because you've already had some dilation, it's in your best interest to take off of work until after the birth. I'm only looking out for your well being Temperance."

"This is ridiculous. Women all over the world engage in work until their children are born and sometimes return to their activities after the birth of the child. I see no reason why this should be any different."

"The difference Temperance is that we here in the United States like to keep infant mortality to a minimum, so I really would appreciate it if you would just take it easy for the next few weeks by going on maternity leave and getting some rest," Dr. Boyd said as she looked at the shocked face of the anthropologist. Booth tried not to snicker, but the sound escaped and it earned him a glare from Brennan.

"Bones, honestly she's just trying to make you as comfortable as possible. Can't you just concede on this one?" After a long moment, Brennan sighed and nodded her head in defeat. She honestly saw no reason for needing to go on a maternity leave even if she had dilated some. The chances were low that she would have the baby within the week despite the dilation and it just didn't seem right that she take the time off of work.

"Fine, I'll take off the time, but I am not taking an extended leave once I have our child. There's no need to be out longer than I need to."

"You'll be out between six and eight weeks once you give birth depending on whether or not you have a vaginal birth or a cesarean. I know that you adopted a baby before, but I think you'll find it a bit more difficult to raise two little ones while healing."

"I don't see how that would make a difference to the process. It is a natural occurrence after all." Dr. Boyd smiled at her patient and shook her head.

"There are always things that you'll find out about childbirth that no one ever tells you. Cardinal rule number one is that the closer you get to your due date, the more likely someone is to tell you a gruesome birthing story. Cardinal rule number two is that no one ever tells you what you feel like after you give birth. Yes you are perfectly capable of going about normal activities, but you hurt. It hurts to stand, walk and sit. In fact the only truly comfortable position is laying down. Your breasts will hurt if they become engorged while your milk comes in, and will become chapped and bruised when you first begin to breast feed. Trust me Temperance, I know you're a pretty tough cookie, but even you will need help." Brennan was about to respond to her doctor when both her and Booth's phones buzzed. Seeley stepped out of the room to answer while Dr. Boyd finished her exam and Temperance got dressed.

"When would you like the paperwork for my leave by?"

"Oh, bring it as soon as you can and I'll see you next week, okay?" Brennan nodded and joined Booth in the hallway as he finished up his call. He looked at her and smiled as he snapped his phone shut.

"You all set to go?"

"Yes. Was that about a case?"

"Yes, not that you'll be involved past today. We need to get up to College Park, Maryland for a body retrieval. Cam's going to meet us there so we need to hurry. She said you could assist with the initial observation but after that your interns will be taking over. If needed you can consult via online feed," he said making sure she knew he wasn't trying to exclude her from the investigation.

"It seems to me that my time would be better spent in the lab assisting with the case."

"No. Your doctor said you're going on leave and that's exactly what you're doing. I don't want this to be a strain on you."

"I'm perfectly capable of knowing what will and will not be a strain on my body."

"I know that Bones, but you agreed to go on leave and you're going to stick to that. I already said that you could consult, but you'll just need to do it from home, okay?" Brennan looked at him for a long time and sighed before nodding her head.

"Just for the record though, I don't like this." Booth grinned over at her and leaned in for a kiss as they reached the SUV.

"I didn't exactly expect that you would." With that, Booth helped Brennan into the Sequoia and took off for remains retrieval.

XxXxX

"I don't know how you want me to respond to this Doco. The press will be all over this and it's going to be bad for the store," Grace Hawley said as she stood next to the store manager of the large Swedish furniture store. Her boss, Don Collins looked over the mass of police and other people at the scene as the store's Loss Prevention manager kept an eye on everyone to make sure they weren't wandering around the merchandise dock of the store.

"I'm sure that once we know more from the officers in charge, we'll be able to issue a statement and so forth. There's no need to be so worried about this."

"It's going to be bad press, and we can't afford that in this economy. It's getting hard enough to bring people in and now this…" Grace shook her head and rubbed a hand over the back of her head.

"Something else is bothering you, isn't it," the perceptive man said to her as he watched the work of the crime scene technicians. He wasn't sure why the FBI had been called in, but figured it must be because of the state of the person who died.

"Noah didn't come home or call last night and I'm getting worried. I've tried getting hold of his friends but so far no one knows where he is."

"Why don't you go ahead and keep trying him. I'll let you know what's going on once I know myself." Grace nodded and began to leave as two more people showed up for the body. She glanced once at the tall, dark haired FBI agent and the very pregnant woman with him as they were led to the cardboard recycling chute to look at the body found there.

She continued on her way as the FBI agent glanced at her as well, a frown on his face. She couldn't blame him for looking that way. She felt like curling into a ball both from the fact that her son was off doing God knows what and now someone had been killed in the cardboard chute. What a day this was turning out to be.

Grace reached the large double doors leading out to the main warehouse of the store, but paused as the FBI agent began to speak to her boss.

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute. Would you mind telling us briefly what happened?" Booth had all of his attention on Don Collins, but Temperance turned when she heard the gasp that Grace let out. The woman remained frozen by the double doors, staring at the back of Booth's head in shock.

"One of our Replenishment coworkers was bringing cardboard down for recycling and after filling the chute and turning the machine on, he noticed the blood on the walls of the thing. He pressed the emergency stop and hopped in to see if whoever it was that was in there was still alive and we called the police when we realized that they weren't." Both nodded and Temperance stepped over toward the cardboard chute to begin her investigation.

Grace slowly turned away from the doors to get a better look at the man talking to her boss. There was no way he could be who she thought he was. It had been far too long, and he couldn't just show up here at the store, but she had to make sure it really was him.

"Was there any staff missing? You know, someone who might have fallen in on accident?" Booth glanced away from Don Collins for just a moment and glanced over his shoulder. His eyes locked with Grace's and he dropped his pen on the floor.

"No, everyone was accounted for after the person was discovered. Are you okay?" Don looked from Booth to Grace as the two engaged in a stare off. Booth was the one to finally break the silence ensuing between the two of them.

"Mom?" Grace let out a whimper before she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Oh my God, Grace," Don shouted and rushed to the side of the unconscious woman. Booth stood there a moment in shock. His brain seemed to be locked in slow motion and he couldn't think to help for just a moment.

Cam's head popped up from where she and Brennan were in the cardboard chute as she glanced first at Seeley and then at Grace sprawled onto the floor. Brennan joined Camille to see what was going on, a look of confusion on her face as Cam scrambled up out of the bin and ripped off her latex gloves to see if the woman was okay.

"Booth, what's going on," Brennan asked, unable to get out of the chute herself. She watched as her fiancé turned to look at her, his face pale. He staggered slightly before putting his hands on his knees.

"My mom…" he muttered before turning and walking away from the scene.


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, would anyone mind telling me what's going on here," Brennan asked after the crime scene techs helped her out of the cardboard crusher. She looked from where Grace was coming to, and then over to Booth. His skin was a little bit green tinged and he looked like he wanted to throw up. She moved to his side as Cam and Don Collins helped Grace back to her feet.

"I think it would be fairly obvious Bones," Booth said as he took in a deep breath. He glanced over at Grace and blew the air out. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Don watched the woman as she tried to get herself under better control. She was still pale, but looked as though she was doing better. After a moment, she looked over at Booth and Temperance.

"It would probably be better if we have any further discussions in one of the meeting rooms upstairs." Grace turned from the main loading dock and headed toward the staircase leading up to the second floor of the large building. It took a moment for Booth to follow, but as he and Brennan followed his mother from the loading dock, he turned to Cam.

"You can finish up the details here for me, right?"

"Of course I can Seeley. Go talk with your mother." Cam watched the pair leave and shook her head. If there was one thing that Seeley Booth avoided talking about more than his time in the army, it was his mother's abandonment. She turned back to the work at hand, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before she heard about how this meeting would go.

When Grace reached the small, three person meeting room, she sat down and took a few deep breaths. The last thing that she expected today was to run into her oldest son. It had been thirty years since she'd seen him, and knew he couldn't possibly understand why she left him and his brother with their father. Well, she thought as the door to the room opened again and Booth came in with Temperance, it's time he finds out.

"Seeley, I expect we have a lot to talk about." Grace looked at her son and gulped. He looked so much like his father it sent a shiver down her spine especially at the way his clenched jaw worked in anger.

"I don't think I have anything to say to you." She watched as Temperance put her hand on his arm in a gesture of comfort. He looked at her and sighed before turning back to his mother. "I will however listen to what you have to say."

"I can't imagine that you understand what it was like for me to leave without you and Jared, but you have to understand that there was a lot going on at the time that I had no control over."

"You left us with an abusive alcoholic. You know how he was and you left us there. Why should I care why it was that you left?"

"Look, I know it was hard on you, believe me. I know what it was like to live with him, but there were reasons why I left, and don't think for an instant that it didn't eat at me that I couldn't take you boys with me." Grace looked at her son, hoping that he would respond in some way, but his jaw simply clenched tighter. It was Temperance who spoke next.

"My parents disappeared when I was fifteen to protect my brother and me, but I'm not sure how your leaving Seeley and Jared with their father would have helped them."

"I married Tom four days after my eighteenth birthday. He was twenty one, and had been working in a barber shop. That's how we met. My mother went into the place one day to get my father, and when she saw Tom, she insisted he come talk to me. We started dating, but when his number was pulled in the draft, we decided to speed things up and got married before he left for basic training. After he graduated from training, he was sent to train as a pilot and I moved to the area to be close to him."

"You loved him, wanted him to have his family there." Grace smiled at Brennan and shook her head a little.

"I honestly don't know if I loved him or not. I was young and stupid and we never should have married in the first place. He was sent to Vietnam and I found out I was pregnant. I was twenty when Seeley was born, and in order to make ends meet while Tom was away, I began to work part time at an advertising company in Pittsburg."

"Yeah, then dad came back home, you had Jared and six years later you left us. I was ten mom. Do you really think any ten year old can deal with what I had to?"

"Seeley, you just don't understand. I was so young and things weren't like they are now. That last time your father went after me, do you remember?" She waited for Booth's nod before she continued. "He beat me up bad enough that I ended up in the hospital. I told them that I'd been attacked on the street, didn't know who did it. I knew that the next time your father lost it, it would kill me. I had to get out."

"Then why didn't you take us with you? Why'd you leave us with him?"

"I wanted to take you, but he said that if I took you boys, he'd call the cops and report you kidnapped. He said I'd go to jail if I left with the two of you. I didn't want to leave you."

"That is the…" Booth let out an angry breath. "The police would have been on your side mom."

"Things weren't the same then as they are now. I didn't know any better. I packed and left before your father could turn on me again. It was the only option I had back then, don't you understand," Grace pleaded, hoping that her son would realize that she'd been trapped in that situation. She stared at him, wanting to see the understanding there. Her phone ringing in the tense silence had all three jumping in surprise. Grace glanced at the number and stood up. "Please excuse me, but I have to take this call."

"Booth, you can't just stay mad at her. She was just doing what she thought was best." Booth turned his attention on Temperance and sighed. This was leaving him emotionally drained and he just wanted to go home and see their daughter, Christine and maybe see if Rebecca would let him take Parker for the evening. He wanted to be with his children.

"I've been mad about what happened for thirty years now Bones, it's a little hard to get over that."

"Look, I understand how hard this is for you. If anyone would understand how difficult this is, then it's me. You were the one who told me to take back my family. You made me accept them back into my life."

"Yeah well this is a little bit different Bones."

"I don't see how. My parents left me, and your mother did the same to you."

"With all due respect Bones, your parents leaving was done for a completely different reason. They did it to save your life. My mother left us with my dad. How is that the same thing?"

"Because they both were doing what they felt was best. Let it go Booth." Brennan and Booth turned back to the door of the conference room when Grace opened it and peeked into the room.

"I'm sorry, but something important has come up and I need to go. I really want to continue this talk, but it's going to have to wait. Please Seeley, I'll call you tomorrow and maybe we can set up a time to meet?"

"I won't have time until after this case is taken care of."

"Well then, I hope that everything is wrapped up quickly. I am sorry, but I really must go." With that, she turned and left the room again. Booth sighed and leaned back in his chair. Of course, he thought. She ran off then and she's doing the same thing now. Booth glanced over at Temperance when she squeezed lightly on his hand.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine Bones. I can deal with this, but for now, we have a murder to solve." Seeley stood up and helped Brennan to her feet before they returned down to the warehouse dock. There was still evidence to catalogue for transport to the Jeffersonian along with human bits to look over.

XxXxX

"Booth, what's going on," Brennan mumbled as she woke in the middle of the night. She felt a small hand petting her head, and rolled over to find herself face to face with her nineteen month old, Christine. "Why isn't Chris in her bed?"

"I just really needed to be with my girls that's all," he whispered as he rubbed small circles onto the toddler's back. Her eyes were getting droopy, and she clutched at her mother's arm as she drifted back to sleep.

"You know I don't like it when she sleeps in here. It's going to become a bad habit."

"Don't worry about it Temperance. She's not going to expect to be in here every night after this one time, okay? I just really needed to hold her." Brennan sighed and snuggled up to the pair as much as her belly would allow.

"So what are you going to do about your mother? I really think you should talk to her again Booth."

"I don't want to talk about it right now Bones, okay?" Temperance glanced over Christine's head and looked at Booth. His jaw was clenched up again, and she could see that he wasn't going to talk now, even if she tried to pry it out of him. With a sigh, she laid her head back onto her pillow.

"Promise me one thing Booth."

"What's that?"

"Promise me that you'll talk with her again. You made me go see my father after you arrested him, made me accept both him and Russ back into my life. I wouldn't have done it without you, and I'm glad you pushed them onto me. I want the same thing for you. She's your mother and deserves the same chance I gave to my family."


	3. Chapter 3

Booth mumbled in his sleep and tried to roll over toward Brennan, but found his way blocked by a small, warm body. It took a moment for him to remember why his daughter was in bed with him and Brennan, but when he did, he leaned back on his pillows and sighed. Why did his mother have to appear in his life now? There had been plenty of opportunities for her to try and find a way back to him and Jared, but she'd never taken the chance. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about the whole situation, but angry and betrayed topped the list. How could she expect him to understand why she left when she didn't even try to take her boys with her? What type of person willingly left their children with an abusive alcoholic?

Booth groaned as he rolled out of bed. He glanced at the clock and sighed, knowing there was no way that he'd be able to get back to sleep now. He didn't have to be at work for a couple of hours and he needed to stop by the Jeffersonian at some point to see if they'd made any headway on their victim. At this point, all he wanted was a name so he had somewhere to start searching.

He padded out of the room quietly, careful not to wake up his girls as he closed the door behind him. There was one thing that he absolutely had to do, if only to be fair to his sibling. Maybe he didn't really want to see his mother again, but Jared might. Booth sat on the couch in the living room and picked up the hand held, dialing his brother's number and waiting for an answer.

"H'lo," came the sleepy reply when Jared finally answered.

"Jared, it's me."

"Seel, why the hell are you calling me at six in the morning?"

"I… look can you meet me at the diner? It's kind of important." There was a pause on the other end of the line and then a sigh.

"Fine, what time do you want me there?"

"Can you be there in an hour? I have some news and, well, I'll see you there, okay?"

"Alright bro, but I'm hoping you'll stop with the cryptic then."

"You got it. I'll see you there, okay?" When Jared agreed, Booth hung up and dropped his head back on the couch. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. When Temperance's mother turned up in Limbo, he felt that he could understand how she was feeling what with his mother just up and leaving when he was a boy. Now he had a much better understanding of what she felt when her father turned up months later. He'd pushed her to accept max back into her life, and now he didn't want to give his own mother the same acceptance he'd pushed Temperance to bestow on her father. He was such a hypocrite, but he just couldn't make himself feel for her in her situation. Time to get this over with, he thought as he hauled up off of the couch to get dressed.

XxXxX

"So what's this about Seel," Jared asked as he slid across the booth from his brother. Unlike Booth, who was put together in a suit and tie, he'd just thrown on jeans and a tee-shirt for the quick morning meeting. Jared waved a waitress down for a cup of coffee and turned his full attention onto his older brother.

"Bones and I were called in to recover some remains from a furniture store in Maryland."

"I heard about that on the news yesterday. Is that why you wanted to see me?"

"Not the body, but… mom was there." Booth looked at his younger brother, unsure what he'd see in his younger brother's expression. The fact that he didn't seem to care surprised Booth somewhat.

"So? What's the big deal about that?"

"It doesn't bother you at all that mom turns up after all these years?"

"Seel, how can I care? I hardly remember her as it is. What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. I guess I thought you'd care a little more about the whole thing."

"Kinda hard to care about someone who left when I was six, you know? Why do you care? She left you too."

"Yeah, I know, but it's still our mom and you seriously don't care?"

"No, I don't. So you ran into mom, big deal. Was she around when we grew up? No, it was just you and me and dad. Why should I care about her when she didn't care enough to stick around?" Jared finished off his coffee and threw down a couple of bills to pay for it before standing up. "Look, I'll see you later bro. I have to go get ready for work so, call me. We'll do lunch."

Booth watched as his younger brother walked out of the diner. He didn't understand how he could be so uncaring about the whole situation. Their mother came out of nowhere and he didn't give a rat's ass about the whole thing. Maybe he should feel the same way as Jared, but he just couldn't. This was family, and after all, family was the most important thing to him. Booth glanced at his watch for a moment before pulling out money for his own meal. It was getting late and he still had to get to work. He did have a case to investigate after all. Plus he had his very pregnant fiancée to worry about. She could after all go into labor at any time, and really, with all that he had going on right now, he really didn't need anything else to worry about. Maybe Jared's attitude was the better one to have. At least that way he wouldn't worry about the possibility of being hurt again by someone he loved. Temperance would say that he should compartmentalize, and Jared didn't seem to care. It was time for him to do the same.

XxXxX

"Angela, how are you doing on an id for our victim," Cam asked as she stepped into the artist's office. Angela turned to look at her boss and sighed.

"I did in fact get a hit on the dentals. Thank god the jaw was relatively intact, but I don't think that our favorite FBI agent is going to like it very much." Angela swung her monitor around to show the information to Cam. The pathologist's eyebrows shot up and she crossed her arms as she contemplated what to do about the identification.

"I see what you mean. Why don't you call in Dr. Brennan and we'll give the name to her, and then she can decide on how to proceed with the information."

"Are you sure about that? I mean she's not supposed to be here, and Booth won't exactly be thrilled with the fact that she's coming back into work."

"Yeah, well what do you think he'll be more upset over, the doc or this?" Cam pointed at the screen before re-crossing her arms. Angela pinched her lips together and nodded.

"Okay, I'll give her a call."

XxXxX

"What is so important that you couldn't just tell me via the web-link," Brennan asked when she showed up to the Jeffersonian. She looked extremely put out, and the hair falling from her ponytail and dirt smudging her face certainly didn't help. She had Christine in a stroller, and the toddler was putting up a fight to get out of the contraption. Cam glanced at the little girl who was also covered in dirt for a moment before focusing back on Temperance.

"Do I want to know what happened?"

"No, now why did you need to see me down here?" Cam motioned for Temperance to follow her into Angela's office, and once they were inside, she shut the door behind them.

"We got a hit on our victim from the missing person's database."

"So why not call Booth and tell him? He's the one working on the case, not me."

"Well that's just it," Cam said as she handed a printout of the information to Temperance. "He won't be able to work the case for much longer."

Brennan looked over the file information and paled slightly as she sat down on the couch in the office. It was a moment before she looked back up at her boss and her best friend.

"Sweetie, we just thought that maybe the news should come from you. After all, he was there when everything happened with your mother. I think you should be there for him when he gets this news."

"I'm not even sure how he's going to react to this information, although it does explain quite a bit about Grace's behavior yesterday."

"I was thinking that myself," Cam replied and sat down next to Temperance. "If you'd rather not be the one to tell him, then I can do it. I mean I'm aware of the whole situation."

"No, that's fine. I'll just go head over to his office and we'll work from there. It's just… he refused to talk about the encounter with his mother at all yesterday. I'm not sure if he's dealing with her reappearance very well, and now this?" Brennan waved the papers around for a moment before setting them into her lap.

"Well if you need someone to talk to yourself, I'm here, and so is Angela."

"Thank you, really. I'm sure everything will be fine when he finds out. I'll get back to you, okay? Please, for his sake keep me informed of everything you uncover." Brennan pulled herself up off of the couch with a little help from Angela and Cam and left the building without another word spoken. As she left, Angela and Cam looked at each other.

"Do you really think everything will be okay with the two of them?"

"Booth is much better at compartmentalizing than you think he is," Cam answered. "I'm just worried that this is going to be too much for him. Grace isn't someone you'll ever hear him talk about, so I think he's going to have to find a way around anything he's feeling, but he'll deal with it eventually."

"God I hope so."

XxXxX

"Bones, what are you doing here," Booth asked as Temperance knocked lightly on his door. He took a moment to look at her and Christine and frowned. "What happened?"

"I decided it might be a good idea to take Chris to the park since I haven't had that much time to spend with her of late, and she managed to find the one muddy spot in the entire area." Booth cringed at the thought. His little girl was not very girly and preferred mud and bugs over dolls and dresses. In his opinion, the little girl spent entirely too much time around Hodgins than was healthy.

"Well, did you stop by for lunch? I suppose I could step out for a little bit, but I'm waiting for the victim's id." Brennan sighed and sat down across from Booth.

"That's why I'm here actually." She handed over the papers that Cam had given her, watching for his reaction. "Meet the victim, Noah Hawley aged seventeen. He was reported missing yesterday by his mother, Grace."


	4. Chapter 4

"You're sure of this?" Booth looked at the papers that Temperance handed to him, the edges wrinkled where he gripped them tightly.

"Yes, I'm sure. I looked over the information when Angela and Cam gave it to me. Are you going to be okay with this?" She watched her fiancé carefully as he looked over the information. His jaw worked as he took in a breath before setting the papers down onto his desk. He picked up his phone and quickly dialed a telephone number, waiting for a moment before the call was answered.

"Sir, it's Booth. I need an agent to take over my case due to a conflict of interest."

"And what exactly is the conflict of interest?"

"The victim has been identified as a relative of mine." There was a pause on the line before Booth's boss Andrew responded.

"I'll send Agent Perotta to your office for the case information. You go ahead and take a few days off."

"Sir, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be the one to give the news."

"Of course Booth. You let me know how much time you need."

"Thank you." Booth hung up the phone and rubbed his hands over his face. Temperance reached over and took one of his hands in hers.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of this. Are you ready to go? I need to get going if I'm going to do this."

"Yeah, I should get Chris home and cleaned up. Did you want to wait for me? I could go with you."

"Bones, don't worry about it. I think that this is something I have to do on my own. I just need some time to process everything, okay?" Brennan nodded and the pair of them left the office with a very dirty toddler. They made it out of the building and to the parking structure before either of them spoke. Finally as they were ready to part ways, Temperance turned to Booth and pulled him into a hug.

"Be safe, and call me if you're going to be delayed." Booth knew exactly what that meant. She meant that if he were going to stay longer to become reacquainted amidst tragedy then she'd know not to stay up. He kissed her and gave her one more quick squeeze before letting go.

"I'm not expecting for this to take long, but I'll call you regardless." He knelt down and looked at his daughter, who was still struggling to get out of the confines of her stroller. "I'll see you later peanut. Maybe I can read you a story when I get home, huh?" With that he kissed her forehead and left for his vehicle.

The drive to College Park, Md. didn't take too long, the morning rush hour having dissipated, but Booth's mind was preoccupied with thoughts about the situation. He wasn't lying when he said he wasn't sure how he felt about the whole situation, but of one thing he was sure. He had a roiling knot of guilt in his stomach from the feelings of jealousy aimed at a dead half brother that he didn't know existed until Temperance told him who the victim was. It was terrible that he was jealous of the boy because he'd gotten more time with their mother than he'd had in his own childhood, but at the same time, he felt it tragic that Noah had died so young. He was going to turn eighteen, which meant that Grace was forty two when he was born.

Booth shook his head and sighed as he turned onto a quiet residential street. The place was so much nicer than the run down house he'd grown up in and another surge of jealousy ran through his body. How would things have been different if his mother hadn't left? Most likely nothing would have changed except she would have been there with them instead of wherever the hell it was that she went. He remembered the beatings. He'd seen how stoically she took them in an effort to shield her boys from their irate father, but the problem was that when she left, the brunt of that anger then fell onto the kids she tried to protect.

Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he pulled up to the well kept two story home with neat lawn and colorful flower gardens. With a sigh, Booth parked the SUV and climbed out, trying to prepare him for what he had to do. It was never easy to reveal to a family that their loved one was murdered, and for the first time Booth felt an incredible disconnect in knowing that the victim was in fact his half brother, but he had no real thoughts about it either way.

He reached the door and knocked, waiting for his mother to answer, and was surprised when the door swung open and a two year old stood there looking at him.

"Where Noah," the little boy asked as he looked up at Booth. Seeley was unsure what to say at that moment, and heard a young woman's voice in the background yelling at the child.

"Alex, no no. We don't answer the door until mommy gets there." The young woman made her way over to the door and pulled her son out of the way as he again asked, "Where Noah?"

"He's not here, and I don't know where he is. Go play with your car car, buddy." Alex began to wail, but walked away from the door anyway. The young woman finally looked at Booth with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry about that. He's a little bit stubborn."

"That's fine. I'm looking for Grace Hawley, is she available?"

"She's a bit busy at the moment. We're in the middle of a sort of family crisis, so I can give her a message, but…"

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI. I spoke with her yesterday." Booth pulled out his badge to show and noted how the young woman's face went ashen.

"I'm sorry, did you say your last name is Booth?"

"Yes, it is." After a moment, the woman stepped back to allow Seeley into the house.

"Please, have a seat here and I'll go get Grace." She indicated a couch for him to sit and walked away, a bit unsteadily as though she'd just received a shock. He hadn't noticed before that she was pregnant; the door to the house had mostly obscured her when she'd answered. He knew just how tough balancing a toddler and pregnancy was through his experience with Temperance, although to be fair, the little boy that was running back and forth in the living room while yelling and waving his arms over his head was a lot more active than his own tomboyish little girl.

"Seeley, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. Is this regarding the body found at the store?" Booth stood up as soon as his mother entered. She looked tired and he knew damned sure why she was so exhausted. Now the dread of what he had to inform her was setting in and his stomach knotted up at what he knew would be the reaction.

"Yeah, the scientists at the Jeffersonian Institute have an identification on the victim."

"Well shouldn't you be telling the store and the family of…" Her words died when she saw the look in his eyes. "Oh god, it's Noah."

"I'm sorry, truly I am," he said and moved forward to catch his mother before she collapsed onto the floor. The pregnant woman looked about ready to fall over herself, but shrugged off the hand that Booth held out to her to steady her. He still wasn't sure who she was, but obviously she was close to both his mother and Noah. "Here sit. Is there anything I can go get for you? Water, Kleenex, anything?"

"We're fine, thank you," came the reply of the young woman. She looked shell shocked, and though the words came out harshly, it was to be expected under the circumstances.

"How," Grace asked, willing herself to be under control. She'd been through the loss of her children before, but then she at least knew they were alive. This pain was much deeper.

"That's what we're trying to find out. Look, I'm officially off of this case, so any questioning or information will be coming from another FBI agent, Peyton Perotta. She's good; you can trust her. I just wanted to let you know myself, and if you need anything…"

"Seeley, I know we're a long way off of even being cordial, but please don't stay away. I can't stand the thought of losing you all over again, especially with this news."

"If you need anything, then give me a call. I can't say that I'll be around, but I'll answer. That's about the best I can do right now." He handed Grace a business card and pointed to his number before standing. Booth was surprised however when the young woman stood in his way when he turned to leave.

"You're just going to leave? Do you honestly care so little that you're just going to announce that Noah's dead and take off?"

"Jennifer, please," Grace pleaded, but stopped, when Seeley took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"This is neither the time nor the place to talk about any issues I have with my family. I already told you that I came as a courtesy so that you wouldn't have to hear the news from someone else, so please don't make this more difficult that it already is." Jennifer opened her mouth to retort, but stopped when Grace put a hand on her arm.

"Just let it go for now. We have other concerns to deal with." When the younger woman sat back down, Grace turned her attention back to her son. "Do you know when we can have him back? I have to start planning the funeral. Will you come?"

"Unfortunately we won't be able to release his remains until the investigation into his death is over, but I'll make sure you're kept informed of what's going on." Knowing that was as good as she was going to get, Grace gave a brief nod and stood to walk her son to the door.

"Thank you," she said, and watched as her oldest son walked away from her. This time though, she knew that she would be seeing him again.

XxXxX

"I'm really worried about him dad," Temperance said from the kitchen as she pulled the vegetarian lasagna out of the oven. "Usually he's much more open with me, but he hasn't said one word about what happened, and it's just not like him."

"Actually, I think it's very much like him to get bottled up when he's not sure how to deal with a situation. If it hadn't been for some pushing from my end, the two of you would probably have gone on as friends because neither one of you wanted to deal with how you were feeling."

I don't know. I guess this just feels different. Rationally I'm sure he understands that I can empathize with his situation. He was there the day that I identified mom's remains, and I know I wouldn't have made it through everything without him, so why is he blocking me out with this?"

"Honey, all I can say is to just give him time to process all of this. He'll talk to you soon enough. And remember to encourage him to maintain contact. There has to be more behind her leaving him and his brother than what she was saying, there has to be."

"Well I hope you're right dad because a justifiable betrayal is a little bit easier to accept."


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: This one's short, and I'm not terribly happy with it, but there you go. Hope it turned out okay and I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think, I look forward to your comments._

"Max, are you here for dinner," Booth asked as he walked into the house. Max Keenan looked up at his future son-in-law from where he was wrestling with Christine on the floor. It was a good thing he supposed that Russ's two girls were pretty girly because Christine was a tom boy through and through. The little girl pulled away from her grandfather and made a beeline for her father, throwing her arms around him in a tight little hug.

"Daddy!"

"Hey there Peanut," he picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. "You're a lot cleaner now than when i saw you earlier."

"Ah, the epic struggle of Chris versus the bathtub ensued. Too bad you missed it," Max said as he climbed up off of the floor. "So how was it today?"

"Bones told you?" Max nodded and Booth let out a sigh before cuddling his daughter just a little bit closer. "I honestly don't know. I know I should feel something regarding my mom, but every time I want to feel bad, it just makes me angry."

"I can imagine. Just give it some time and I'm sure the whole story will come out."

"You think there's more to what happened than she said before?"

"There has to be. Look, you had Temperance give me a second chance. Do the same thing for your mother. Even if she had her reasons for leaving, I'm sure she never stopped caring for you. It eats you up inside, the worry and all. It's tough to take."

"Yeah, well that goes for both ends." Booth set his daughter down and headed back toward the kitchen and Temperance. He smiled as she pulled dinner out of the oven, humming a bit under her breath as she did so. Once she set the hot dish on the counter and shut the oven, Booth moved forward and wrapped his arms around her rather expanded waistline. He kissed the side of her neck and felt her melt back into him.

"How are you," she asked, turning her head to look at him. He shrugged, kissed her on the lips and let go of her.

"Honestly, I don't know. I know I should feel upset about the whole thing, but I don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck and moved away to the fridge to grab a beer. "I hate feeling so..."

"Ambivalent?"

"That's as good a word as any, yeah." Temperance leaned up against the counter and looked at Booth. He looked as tired as she'd ever seen him.

"Did Grace say whether or not she wanted to see you again?" Booth nodded and took a swig of the beer.

"Yeah, once the body's released, she wants us to be at the funeral."

"Do you want to go?" Booth shrugged again and took another swig of the beer.

"I probably should, but I mean now I think I know how you felt when you discovered your mother's remains."

"Booth, go lay down and get some rest. It'll be a bit before dinner has cooled down. I'll come get you when everything is ready." He downed the rest of his beer and tossed the bottle as he left the kitchen. The suggestion was definitely valid. He didn't sleep well the night before and the meeting with his mother had been emotionally exhausting. Once he got back to his room, he took off his jacket and kicked his shoes to the floor. He'd change later. For now he just wanted to get a little bit of rest.

An hour passed and the lasagna was finally cool enough to serve. Temperance got up from the couch where she'd been listening to her father read to Christine and headed to the bedroom to wake up Booth. She was incredibly concerned about him. Never had she seen him so emotionally distraught over something. His lack of dialogue on the subject was a bit disturbing as well because over the past couple of years they generally told each other everything. The fact that he didn't really want to discuss what had happened with his mother leaving really worried her.

As she reached the bedroom, Brennan paused at the door. Booth was moaning and tossing a bit in the bed.

"Booth, are you okay?" She stepped up to the bed cautiously and looked at him. His face was contorted in pain and with a loud shout, he turned his head violently to the side as if he'd been hit. She reached out a hand to try and wake him up. "Booth?"

"Don't touch me!" The next thing she knew, she was shoved backwards and into the wall. With a shocked cry, she sank to the floor clutching at her stomach. Temperance took a deep breath as she heard her father running down the hallway toward the room.

"What's going on in...Honey are you okay?" Max looked from his daughter on the floor to Booth still tossing and turning on the bed. It didn't take a genius to figure out what just happened. Temperance took another breath before she looked up at her father.

"I think my water just broke." Max made his way to over to Temperance as Christine ran in behind him.

"Can you stand up baby?" Brennan nodded and took her father's hand to help her get up from the floor. As she stood, she cradled her stomach again and took in a breath. Max glanced down at the floor and paled slightly.

"Dad, what's wrong."

"I don't think that was your water breaking." Brennan frowned and looked back noticing the red stain for the first time.

XxXxX

"I'm sure she's going to be fine," Angela said as she looked over at Max Keenan. The older man was rocking Christine in his lap nervously as his gaze kept moving to the doors of the waiting room.

"That was blood on the floor, Angela. Blood does not mean everything's going well."

"How's Booth taking it?" Max grimaced as he thought about the reaction from the special agent when he'd finally awoken from the nightmare.

"Wracked with guilt. You know Booth. He feels like it's his fault." Both of them turned to look at the door of the waiting room as it opened. Booth stood there looking exhausted, but smiling.

"Everything's fine. Bones is fine and so is Jacob." Max grinned as Booth came into the room and was promptly enveloped in a hug by Angela.

"Congratulations sweetie," she said when she finally let him go. Max stepped up and clapped him on the shoulder before pulling him into a somewhat awkward hug himself.

"So I have another grandson huh? When can we see Tempe?"

"She's in recovery right now, so once she's moved to a regular room then she can have visitors. You call Russ yet?"

"Yeah, he and the family will stop by tomorrow when she's had some rest. Did you call your family?"

"Rebecca's bringing Parker by later and Jared isn't really into the idea of stopping by to see a newborn so..." Booth shrugged. Max gave him a look and sighed.

"You know who I meant."

"I'm not calling her."

"Booth..."

"No. Look, I know that you were kind of in her same position, but it's just too... recent to call her. We'll see where things go in the future, but I can't do it, not now."

"Okay. Just don't try to keep her out of your life Booth. She's your mother, and maybe she has to earn back the right to that relationship, but she's still family." Seeley just gave a curt nod and left the room to go back to Temperance and their baby. Once he was gone, Angela turned to look at Max.

"Do you really think he'll let her back in?"

"If he got Tempe to do it, then he'll do it and on his own. He cares too much not to stay in touch with her."


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, what's all this," Jennifer asked after she finally got her son into bed. It was around ten thirty at night, long past when the two year old should have gotten to sleep. Grace looked up from the open box that sat on the floor before her. Pictures were strewn everywhere in loose piles as she continued to flip through them.

"Just reminiscing a little bit." Grace set down another picture and Jennifer sat down on the floor next to her. She glanced at the stacks of photos and picked one up of two boys, the oldest of which couldn't have been more than ten years old.

"Who's this?" Grace glanced at the picture for a moment. Her heart squeezed just a little as she looked at it. The boys were grinning as they stood in front of Independence Hall, each of them waving to the camera.

"That's Seeley and Jared when they were boys. That was the last day I took them out before..." Grace took the picture and set it back down on the pile it had come from. "I think that Seeley would like to see these. It was one of our good days."

"What was he like?"

"Seeley?"

"No." Jennifer picked up a photograph of Tom and looked at it. She had to admit that Seeley did look remarkably like the man in the picture.

"When he was sober, he was a very charming man, but that wasn't often. I think if he hadn't needed to go to Vietnam then things would have been different." Grace sighed and ran a hand over her face. "It's ridiculous to think of how things could have been. There's a lot that I regret in regards to Seeley and Jared, but there's nothing I can do to change the past."

"Well then why did you marry him in the first place? I mean if you knew he was that way..."

"Jennifer, Tom wasn't always that way. He changed when he went to war. The man I married is not the man I left all those years ago." Grace smiled and grabbed another picture to look at. The man in this one was older, but he looked much like Tom and Seeley. "I do wish though that you could have met Tom's father Hank. That man was a character and he loved the boys so much."

"What are you going to do with all of these pictures?"

"I thought that maybe the boys might like them. I doubt very much that they have any from when they were little."

"You're just going to give them the pictures?"

"Why wouldn't I? They're my sons and your brothers Jennifer. Have a little compassion for the situation." The younger woman scoffed and got up off of the floor.

"How am I supposed to have compassion? You saw Seeley when he was here. He was so cold to you. You're his mother..."

"Who left him with an alcoholic when he was ten. How do you think he'd feel. I accept that he's angry with me, but it's not going to keep me from reaching out to him now. I hope you'll give him the same level of understanding." Grace reached back into the box for another photograph, smiling as she looked at it. Seeley stood there, his hair longer than he wore it now, all curls held back with hair product, sunglasses on, a red and black striped shirt, black pants that were rolled at the bottom and black loafers with white socks. The boy had been obsessed with the music group Shanana and decided to dress up as one of the members of the group for Halloween one year. Jared stood next to him, plastic mask and costume in place as both held onto their jack o'lantern buckets ready to head out for candy. That was how she wanted to remember the boys. They were so young and innocent back then.

With a sigh, she watched Jennifer leave the room, shaking her head and going back to her own room. Grace reached down and picked up the two separate piles of pictures and set them to the side. She would take them to Seeley at the FBI building in the morning since she had to go and answer a few questions regarding Noah's death. Grace took in a deep breath and glanced at the senior picture of her son hanging on the wall. He was such a good looking boy, so compassionate and was all set to head to Georgetown for college. He was too smart to have died in such a tragic way, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out who would have wanted him dead. It just didn't make sense in her mind. After a last glance at the clock, she picked up the box and put it away as she headed off to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day after all.

XxXxX

Booth looked down at Temperance as she dozed lightly. He had Jacob in his arms, rocking the newborn gently as he slept. He smiled at the small snuffling sound the baby was making, trying to root in his sleep, no doubt ready to wake up and feed. Sure enough, the baby started to stir. Booth reached down and shook Temperance gently until she opened up her eyes.

"Booth, what is it?" She rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed as Booth handed Jacob to her.

"I could have really hurt you Bones, you and Jacob."

"What happened was an accident and I don't want you beating yourself up over it, okay?" She pushed her nightgown aside and settled Jacob to her breast to feed. Booth watched as she smiled down at the little boy and felt his heart squeeze. There was no way he'd ever leave his children, ever. He still couldn't wrap his mind around his mother's abandonment. What happened to Brennan was much more understandable to him. By leaving Temperance and Russ behind, Ruth and Max Keenan had saved their lives, but to leave behind two boys with an alcoholic abuser? His fist clenched slightly and he took a deep breath, turning his attention back to Temperance and their newborn.

"Regardless, I'm sorry." Booth reached down and caressed Jacob's head. The boy had been born with a head full of dark hair, but it was obvious that he was inheriting his mother's blue eyes.

"What were you dreaming about?"

"That day, the one that put my mom in the hospital. Dad got mad over the stupidest things sometimes. Mom had picked me up from baseball practice even though she was sick with the flu. Dad couldn't be bothered to come and get me event though it had been raining and practice got cut short. Well we got home and my shoes were a little muddy..."

"He got mad because you tracked mud into the house?" Booth offered her a wry smile.

"You had foster parents that over-reacted to you dropping a plate, so yeah, he was furious." He paused a moment and looked away from Brennan, rubbing a spot on the side of his face before he looked back at her. "He yelled and said that all I did was make messes for other people to clean up. He shoved me back into a wall, and I told him not to touch me, but he picked me up and started shaking me into the wall. There was a mirror there and I thought my head was going to hit that mirror and shatter all over me."

"Booth, I'm sorry."

"Mom pushed dad away from me and told him to leave me alone, and that's when he turned on her. Bones, never have I felt so helpless in my life. I tried to stop him from hitting her, I did, but it didn't help. She was hurt so bad, and for him to have done that to her while she was sick..."

"He should never have done that at all. Booth, why do I feel you're blaming yourself for what happened to your mother?"

"If I hadn't tracked that dirt in..."

"Then your father most likely would have found some other reason to beat his family. You've seen domestic violence over the course of a case. You know that. Stop blaming yourself for something that is so clearly not your fault."

God, it's just..." Booth sighed and stood up from her bedside. He paced the room a little before finally turning back to her. "When she left, I felt it was my fault for not protecting her. After that, I made sure that Jared never got in Dad's way. If I couldn't take care of my mom, then I was damned sure going to keep my brother safe."

"You've got to talk to someone about this, Booth. Talk to Sweets," Brennan said, pausing at the derisive snort that her fiance gave before continuing on. "If you don't want to talk to him, then see if Gordon Wyatt will listen. Stop holding all of this in, and stop blaming yourself for everything."

"You're amazing Bones, you know that?"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because you're one of the only people who won't let me get down on myself." He sat back down and leaned over to offer her a kiss being careful not to crush Jacob in the process. He'd make the call in the morning. Temperance was right. There was no need to be beating himself up over this, and it was time he stopped blaming himself and move on to the new life he was creating with Temperance.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ms. Hawley, thank you for coming in today," Agent Perotta said as Grace stepped into her office. The FBI agent's eyes briefly flittered down to the manila envelope the woman held in her hands. She pointed out a chair for the woman and smiled as Grace settled in across from her.

"You said over the phone that you had some questions for me regarding my son?"

"Yes," she said and flipped open a file. "You reported him missing the same day that he was found dead is that correct?"

"Well yes, but that's because he's seventeen and often stayed out with his friends even on a week night. I wasn't aware he was missing until that morning."

"I see. And you were okay with him being out late?"

"Agent Perotta, my son was on his way to Georgetown University on a scholarship. He was a good kid and I had no reason to not trust him. Besides, if he made a mistake while he was out there then it was an opportunity for him to learn from his mistakes."

"Okay, well what time did you work the night he died?"

"I'm the marketing director for the store. I'm off the days I work by six in the evening. Usually Noah was just coming in for the closing shift at that time."

"And for the rest of the evening, where were you?" Grace looked at the agent, unable to believe that the woman was really considering her to have hurt her son.

"I had dinner at home with my daughter Jennifer and my grandson Alex. After dinner, we watched some television and then went to bed. When I got up in the morning, I found that my son had never come back home. I thought at first that he might have stayed over at a friend's house that day."

"So you didn't return to work until the morning you reported him missing?"

"Yes. If you're truly curious about whether or not I was there, check the employee logs. We have to scan in and out of the building. You'll see that I was in and out of the store when I said I was. Is there anything else you need to know?"

"Just one more thing. Is there anyone that you can think of that would want to do your son any harm? Anyone at work that he didn't get along with?"

"No. Everybody loved Noah. He went out of his way to help people and he was just a good kid." Perotta nodded and closed the file after she wrote down a few notes.

"Well thank you for coming down here. I know this has to be a hectic time for you."

"Look, Agent Perotta, I just want to know what happened to my son so that I can get past this and give him a proper burial."

"Of course. If there's anything that you remember later, please give me a call."

"There is one thing you can help me with. Can you direct me to Seeley Booth's desk? I have something for him." Perotta's eyes moved back to the manila envelope before she glanced back up at Grace.

"He's not in today. I can give him whatever it is that you need to leave for him." Grace pulled the envelope closer to her chest and shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry, it's personal. Do you know where I can find him?"

"I'm sorry, I only know he's out of the office today. I'll let him know you were looking for him though." Grace nodded and stood to leave the office. When she left, she was met by Jennifer and Alex as they sat in a waiting area.

"So are we stopping by his office?"

"No Jennifer, he's not in today." Grace turned to face the elevator as they reached the end of the hallway. "I'll just have to wait until I have the opportunity to see him again." Grace glanced at the young man that stood next to them waiting for the elevator. He glanced at Jennifer once, a puzzled look on his face before he turned back to face the elevator.

"Like he's going to come around. You saw how he was..."

"Stop talking about Seeley that way. Why do you have such a problem with him?"

"I'm sorry, were you looking for Seeley Booth?" Both women turned to look at the young man curiously.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was," Grace said to him. He glanced back and forth between her and her daughter for a moment and held out his hand.

"You must be Booth's mother, Grace am I right?" She nodded and took the proffered hand. "I'm Dr. Lance Sweets, an associate of Booth's."

"Well, it's nice to meet you young man, though I must say I'm curious as to why you're introducing yourself."

"I was actually just headed over to meet Booth to discuss some private matters. You can join me if you'd like."

"Oh, you're going to his house?"

"No, he's over at George Washington." At Grace's slightly panicked expression that some harm could have come to her son, Sweets smiled in quick reassurance. "His fiancee just had a baby, it's nothing to worry about."

"Seeley has a child?" There was awe in her voice. Over the years she had wondered what the lives of her two sons were like, but had never tried to get in contact with them, believing that to be the wrong course of action as far as they were concerned. Why would they want to even speak to a woman who'd left them alone with an alcoholic?

The elevator dinged open, pulling Grace from her thoughts as the small group got on. She glanced back at Lance once the doors shut, curious as to how he'd gotten to know her son, and why he was much more open to her than the other agent had been.

"How do you know Seeley," she asked him finally but before he could answer, Jennifer threw in her own little comment.

"They both work for the FBI mom. Why wouldn't they know each other?" Lance watched the interaction with veiled interest. So the young woman was Grace's daughter. He'd suspected as much just from her resemblance of Booth, but wasn't going to ask questions when he wasn't as yet in a position to do so.

"Actually I assist on cases with Booth. I'm a forensic phsychologist, so when needed I work up profiles based on the crime committed. I've been working with him and Dr. Brennan for several years now." The doors opened back in the lobby of the Hoover building and the group headed out for the hospital. Sweets mused as he drove over, Grace and her family following him to the hospital, what Booth wanted to talk to him about. He knew it was about Grace and the current case regarding her son, but he wasn't sure how that played out personally for the agent. Booth was always so close-lipped about his private life that it was difficult to get anything out of the guy regarding his past. Now though, the agent had straight up called him to discuss the issues.

While he wasn't sure how Booth would take the fact that his mother was going to be at the hospital as well, it was probably a good time to start to work through the issues that they had and bring some resolution to the family. He knew Booth well enough to know that the agent would want to resolve the family issues, but his pride and hurt feelings were getting in the way. Now was the time to break through those feelings and let the healing begin.

XxXxX

"We'll be right back with your son as soon as we take care of the circumcision," the doctor said as she flashed her id badge showing the color code for the maternity ward on her badge. Temperance reluctantly let go of her son and watched as the doctor wheeled the baby bassinet out of the room. Booth watched his wife with an amused smile.

"It's always hard to let them out of your sight the first time."

"This is so different from having Chris. All of her initial care was already taken care of before we adopted her."

"Well I have a surprise for you," Booth said as he headed for the door to t6he hospital room. "I'll be right back." The FBI agent headed down the hallway toward the waiting room, smiling as he got there.

"Dad, how's Bones?" Booth hugged his son before he swept Christine up into his arms.

"She's good, but a little tired so I need you to really keep an eye on your sister while we're in there, okay?"

"Sure thing dad." The boy smiled up at his father and turned to the door. "So are we gonna go see her now?"

Booth nodded before turning to Max. "Thanks for bringing the kids by today. You're okay in here for now?"

"Of course Booth. I'm just waiting for Russ to get here and then we'll pop in for a visit."

"Great. I know that Bones will appreciate the visit." Booth offered his future father-in-law a smile and left the waiting room with his kids. As they headed down the hallway toward Brennan's room, the family turned a corner and almost ran right into Sweets.

"Ah, Booth, how's Dr. Brennan doing?"

"She's good. Can you give me a minute and wait in the other room? I'll be right..." Booth paused as he looked at the small group of people just behind Sweets. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Seeley, please..." Parker looked from his dad to the woman he was talking to and frowned.

"Dad, who's that?" Booth sighed as he looked down at his son. He wasn't ready for this to happen, but it looked like he had no choice now.

"Parker, this is your Grandmother, Grace. Mom, this is my son, Parker." He looked from his son to his mother and watched as her eyes teared up a little. Parker looked up at his dad curiously.

"I thought you said I didn't have a grandmother."

"Well Parks, I was wrong. Say hello." The boy looked up at Grace and held out his hand. Grace took it and wiped at a tear gathering in her eye.

"You look just like my Noah did at your age."


	8. Chapter 8

Parker looked up at his dad a little confused. "Dad, who's Noah?" Booth looked down at his son and tried to find a way to best explain the situation. He sighed and put his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Noah was your grandmother's son, but he just passed away."

"If he's her son wouldn't that make him your brother?"

"Parks, we'll get into this later okay? Can you do me a favor and take your sister in to see Bones? I'll be there in a few minutes." Parker looked at his father for a moment and then nodded. He took hold of the little girl's hand and led her down the hall toward Brennan's private hospital room. Grace watched the two children leaving, stunned that she now had three grandchildren that she'd previously didn't know existed. Her heart ached just a little at the thought that she'd kept herself from this life for far too long.

Booth glanced at his mother and noticed the underlying sadness to her expression. Sure, she'd left him and Jared with their abusive father, but he'd spent his time growing up giving her the benefit of the doubt. It was the shock of seeing her years later that brought out the resentment. Bones was right, he mused. He forced her to accept her family when they came back into her life, and by denying his, he was rejecting everything that he'd told her over the years. It was time to just get everything out of his system and talk with Grace.

"I don't have a lot of time to talk because I need to get in to my family, but I can take a couple of minutes to discuss things." Sweets looked at Booth with his eyebrows raised. He was expecting it to be like pulling teeth to get Booth to sit down and talk with his mother.

"Great. Why don't we go to the waiting room where we can all sit down and chat?"

"No offense Sweets but I don't think you need to be involved in this conversation," Booth said, leading the group toward the waiting room.

"On the contrary Agent Booth, I believe that my presence is very much required. You did after all call me to discuss this very subject."

"Fine, but just stay out of it, okay?" Booth sighed and stepped into the waiting room. Max Keenan looked up at him curiously.

"You're back already? How did you even have time to talk to Tempe?"

"Max could you please go see Bones? I have some things to discuss with my mother. I'll be there in a few and if Russ shows up I'll send him back." Max looked over Grace and Jennifer before nodding.

"Sure Booth. I'll see you in a bit." He glanced once more at the people with Sweets and left the waiting room empty except for Booth and his family. Nervously, Booth sat down where he could face his mother. He glanced at the two year old with them as he ran over to some toys in the corner of the waiting room.

"So..." he began, not sure exactly how he wanted to address the issue. He'd been expecting to talk to Sweets alone, but now that his mother was here he wasn't sure how to proceed. Grace took the initiative however and handed him the manila envelope.

"I brought these for you. I didn't think that you had anything from when you were a child so..." Booth frowned and opened the envelope. A moment later, his eyebrows went up as he looked over the photographs. She was right, he didn't have anything from before he lived with Pops. He pulled out a few of the pictures to look at when she continued on. "Seeley, I am so sorry I never tried to contact you, but there's more to why I never came back than you realize."

"What reason could you have that would keep you from fighting for your own kids? You had to know that the courts would have kept us with you. Dad was the one hitting us."

"He didn't need to know that I was pregnant." Booth set down the pictures and looked at his mother, his mouth a grim line as he glanced from Jennifer back to his mother. Well that definitely explained the younger woman's constant presence in Grace's life.

"So you just decided that you'd start a new family and just leave us with dad?"

"Hey, lay off of her," Jennifer said, disdain for Seeley dripping from her voice.

"Lay off of her? Dad nearly killed her and when she left nearly killed me and my brother and I'm supposed to just rejoice that I've found her again? She abandoned us when she left and excuse me for not being able to just get over this."

"You've done nothing but given her attitude since you saw her again and you need to knock that off."

"I don't need you to tell me how to feel. You have no idea what my life was like, or what I went through after she left. You've had her in your life your entire life, and she left me and my brother when we were kids. What were we supposed to think? Now, here she is with a new family and she never even tried to get in contact with us. Obviously we weren't good enough for her."

"Seeley, that's just not true..."

"Oh really? Then why was she," Booth pointed to his younger sister, "so surprised to find out that she had brothers? Did you ever talk about us at all after you left?"

"I thought it best to not say anything if there wasn't a chance of seeing you again."

"Dad left us when I was eleven mom, a year after you did. It was a good thing Pops was there for us or I don't even know what would have happened to us." Booth turned his attention to his sister who stared back at him angrily.

"Stop it! Just leave her alone!"

"Okay, see this is why I'm here," Sweets said as he looked between the two siblings. "Both of you just calm down and we can work on resolving this whole thing."

"What's there to resolve? I don't want to have anything to do with someone who's going to treat my mother like crap."

"Jennifer, please..." Grace put a hand on her daughter's shoulder to calm the hot-headed girl down. "Your brother has every right to be angry with the situation."

"What do you mean your brother?" All heads swung to the doorway of the waiting room to see Jared and his wife Padme standing in the doorway. Booth blew out a breath and stood up, his hands on his hips. He made a quick gesture in Jennifer's direction as he kept his eyes on his brother.

"Jared, meet Jennifer, our sister."

XxXxX

"Bones, where's the baby," Parker asked as he stepped into the hospital room with Christine in tow. Temperance looked to the doorway her eyes lighting up at the sight of the two kids before her.

"Parker! I thought you were coming by later on." She held open her arms as the two kids climbed up onto the bed with her, Christine cuddling up into her side.

"Dad talked mom into letting me come here a little bit early today. Where's the baby?"

"The doctor had to take him out for a few minutes, but they'll be bringing him back, don't worry." She hugged the two kids and pulled back to look at her soon to be step-son. "Is there something bothering you?"

"Who was that lady dad was talking to in the hallway? He said she was my grandmother." Brennan's eyebrows went up as she looked at the boy.

"Grace is here?"

"Yeah, we ran into her in the hallway. Dad didn't seem too happy, and why did he say she was my grandmother when he's always told me I didn't have one?"

"Parker, your grandmother hasn't been in your father's life since he was your age. He didn't think he had a mother any longer, but we ran into her a few days ago. I didn't expect her to come to the hospital though."

"Why didn't she want to see dad?"

"It's complicated. I'm sure your father will explain everything later, but for now why don't we not worry about it and you can tell me how your science project is going." Parker began to tell her about his project that he was working on with Max when the man in question stepped in the room. He leaned in the doorway watching his daughter interact with the kids. He glanced back over his shoulder in the direction of the waiting room. He was curious about what was going on, but knew it wasn't his place to interfere in Booth's family business. Max turned his attention back to his daughter and watched her, a smile on his face. For all of the issues that Booth was going through currently, Max really had to thank the FBI agent for getting Temperance to allow him back into her life. As he made his way to her bedside, he gave one last thought to Booth, hoping that he'd give his own family the same chance that he'd given to Temperance.


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: I'm sure that the psychology is a bit shaky here, and that Jared is much more effective than Sweets, but this is what I've come up with so we'll all just have to live with it. As always, let me know what you think._

Jared stared at the young woman watching him so hostily. His gaze passed to his mother, who looked like she was ready to pass out, finally settling on his brother. Tension was radiating off of the older Booth, and it was obvious to Jared that he was trying to hold it together. When he'd arrived with Padme to visit Temperance and Seeley, he'd heard shouting. The sound of his brother's voice drew him to the waiting room. He was not prepared to see his mother in the room with a young woman whom he'd just discovered was his sister.

"Sister?" Seeley nodded as he continued to glare at Jennifer. The young woman couldn't look more like Booth as her glare matched his own.

"Yeah, our sister. Jennifer, this is Jared and his wife, Padme." Jared didn't miss the fact that the introduction was ground out, his brother's emotions barely in check.

"Okay, what everyone here needs to do is take a deep breath and calm down," Sweets said, his own gaze bouncing back and forth between the arguing siblings. "You two are way too close to see things clearly. Jared, do you have anything you want to say about reconnecting with your mother?"

"Yeah I do. To hell with it, I have absolutely no interest in reconnecting." Everyone except for Booth looked at him somewhat in shock.

"Jared, this is your mother..." Padme started, but stopped as her husband shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. I was six when she left, and all I remember was that dad didn't seem to care."

"Jared, please don't just cut me out," Grace began, but halted as her son held up a hand.

"Just let me get through this, okay?" Jared turned from her and back to Jennifer. "I heard you yelling at my brother o the way here and all I can say to you is to just shut it. The kid is yours, right?" Jared indicated the two year old playing with toys in the corner. At Jennifer's scowling nod, Jared continued. "If you were in an abusive relationship would you leave your kid behind?"

"Of course not! I would never..."

"Uh huh." The younger Booth turned his attention back to Seeley. "We're going to go say hello to Temperance and see you later, okay?" Booth nodded as Jared and Padme left the waiting room and the chaos behind. Now one said anything in the wake of Jared's statements. Jennifer looked distinctly uncomfortable in the room. Sweets cleared his throat, drawing the attention onto him.

"Jennifer, I understand your need to defend your mother, but I think your devotion has been clouding your ability to hear another point of view. I think that you should take time to consider how Agent Booth and his brother might be feeling before condemning them for being angry with your mother." The young psychologist turned his attention onto Booth at that point, not finished with his advice. "You, Agent Booth, should understand better than anyone the need to protect the ones you love. Yes, you have a very valid complaint regarding your mother, and I can understand your reluctance to share your life with her, but I think this offers you a great opportunity to heal that pain."

Booth blew out a breath and crossed his arms over his chest. He glanced quickly at his mother before turning back to Sweets. He couldn't tell Temperance that she needed to forgive her family and not do the same for his own. Yes, he resented the fact that Grace left him and his brother with an abusive alcoholic, but she was right on one front. She'd felt that there was no other option. Even he'd felt that way when his dad was beating him in a drunken rage. He too could have gone to the police to report the abuse, but he never did. He was just too scared, and he had Jared to look out for as well. He understood her decision to leave his father, but that didn't mean that it had to sit well with him.

"I was planning to put the past away where my mom is concerned," Booth said to Sweets, though he glanced at Grace as he said it. "I couldn't very well tell Bones to do that for her own family and not do it for mine." He could see the relief that settled over Grace's features as though a large weight were removed from her shoulders. " I just happen to think that it would be a good idea to save any further reunions until after the investigation into Noah's death is finished. I think we all need some time apart from each other."

"I think that's a very good idea Booth," Sweets said. He too seemed relieved at Booth's decision to reconnect with his family.

"Now," Booth said as he gripped the manila folder a bit tighter in his hand, "if you don't mind, I need to get back to my fiancee." With that, he left the waiting room as he headed back to Brennan's hospital room. There was a lot to think about, and a lot to try to put in the past, but in the end, Grace was his mother and he could give her the opportunity to be his mother again.

When he reached the door of the room, he paused to watch the scene in front of him. Jacob had been returned from his circumcision and was being held by Temperance as Christine and Parker sat on the hospital bed with her. Max sat next to her looking like the proud grandfather that he was while Jared and Padme stood against one wall a little bit out of the way.

Temperance glanced up at the door when she felt Booth's warm gaze on her, and she smiled, inviting him to her side as Max stood.

"How did things go," she asked when he sat down.

"As good as they would have gone I guess," he said with a shrug. Booth reached over and caressed the soft, downy baby hair on Jacob's head. Not wanting to talk about the confrontation anymore, he turned to his brother with a grin. "So Jar, when are you and Padme planning to contribute to the clan?"

XxXxX

"I don't understand how you can just forgive her for what she did," Jared said later that night as he and Booth sat at the bar of 'Founding Fathers'. Booth took a swig of his beer before he opened up the manila envelope that Grace gave him.

"I'm not forgiving her for what she did, but I can't just leave her out of my life now that I know she's still alive. I just can't do that." He pulled out a few pictures and laid them down onto the bar counter. Seeley pointed out one of the pictures and looked at his brother. "Regardless of the hurt, she still loves us. Do you remember this trip? The one we took to Independence Hall that time we went to visit Pops?"

"Vaguely," Jared said as he looked down at the picture. That trip had been just before their mother left them, but it had been one of the few happy memories he had from that point in his childhood.

"Mom always loved being able to take us places, mostly I think to get us away from dad. I hate that she left us the way she did, but she thought in some way she was protecting us."

"How in the hell could she think that? She knew what kind of man that dad was."

"Yeah, and he threatened her life if she left him and took us along."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why would she believe him?"

"For the same reason that most abused women do. She's seen what he was capable of." Booth looked down at the pictures and ran his fingers over the images. "Look Jar, I understand why you want nothing to do with her, and if that's what you want, then fine, but I'm going to give mom this chance."

"Do what you want bro, but you're doing it without me." The two brothers looked at each other for a long time before Booth nodded. Maybe his decision was the right one, and maybe it wasn't, but only time would tell for them now.


	10. Chapter 10

"You know, I've gone over and over the security tapes that were sent here, and I can't see anything that looks suspicious in nature. I just don't understand, unless this whole mess was just some really tragic accident," Angela said as Cam walked into her office. With a sigh, she replayed the video again. There had to be something on it that would tell them who was responsible for the death of Noah.

"I don't think you're going to find anything in that video Angela," Cam answered as she looked over the tox screen before her. She handed the file over to the artist and pointed out the detail that worried her.

"Phenolbarbitol?" Angela looked up at Cam for confirmation.

"Yes. If he was on this medication, then he would have been taking it to control seizures. It's entirely possible that his condition led to his death." Angela turned back to the security footage and played it again.

"That would probably explain why there's a gap in time from when Noah went into the cardboard recycling area and when the next person followed. You can see him here dragging in that pallet, and he's obviously putting it into the recycler, but after the last of it is put in, there's nothing for a few minutes." Both women watched the footage as a second young man dragged a cart of empty boxes over to the machine. The footage showed him moving the other pallet out of the way before he continued into the recycling area. He left a few minutes later as though no one else had been in there.

"Oh, I don't even like thinking about what could have happened there. Send an image of that second young man to Agent Perotta. She'll want to interview him." Cam took her file back and headed out of the office. Just before she left, Angela called out to her.

"Hey Cam, have you been to see Bren yet?"

"No. I'm generally uncomfortable around newborns. When I was doing my internship, we had to do some time on the maternity ward and I was always terrified that I'd drop the newborn."

"Well, you should go see her. Jacob's absolutely adorable. I never thought that I'd see Bren settling down, having kids... Booth's been really good for her, you know?"

"I'm just glad that both of them are happy. They really do deserve so much."

"I'll go ahead and send this information over to Perotta. I'm glad for all of their benefits that this is almost over. They need to get back to some sense of normal."

"That they do Angela. Let me know once everything is sent, okay?" The artist nodded as she began to set up an e-mail for the FBI agent. Hopefully this really was just a tragic accident and nothing deliberate, not that it would make his loss any easier to bear.

XxXxX

"Thank you for coming in Mr. Baxter. I just have a few questions for you regarding the fifth of August." Agent Peyton Perotta looked over the information on the case as she sat across from the nervous young man. After looking over the file, she turned on a small television set and played footage from the security tape. "Would you mind telling me what you were doing here in this video?"

"I'd think it was pretty obvious, I mean we take care of the empty cardboard at the end of the evening, and some idiot not only left a pallet blocking the cardboard chute, but they also left the gate open inside. I mean, it's not like we have time to do our own work, but now we're cleaning up after other people? How in heck is that a crime? I was just doing my job, you know?"

"So you're telling me that when you went in to recycle the cardboard that you had with you there was no one else in the recycling area?"

"No, no one else was there, just a mess that I had to clean up. Did someone complain about me because I don't see how this could even be considered a crime. All I did was crush some cardboard."

"I'm going to show you the footage again Mr. Baxter, and then I want you to tell me again what you did that evening." Peyton rewound the footage to the beginning and watched with the store employee as Noah brought his stuff into the recycler. "Okay, we can see Noah Hawley taking his stack of boxes into the recycling area here, and now... here's where you come in. Care to tell me again what happened?"

"Oh God. Oh no, please don't tell me he was in there." Mr. Baxter looked at Peyton, his face ashen in shock. "Oh God, I swear I didn't know anyone was in there. The cardboard gets stuck in there sometimes and even though we're not supposed to we open the gate and stomp it down so the stuff will fit. I saw the open gate, but I didn't see anybody there I swear!" Peyton looked at the young man for a long time as his expression turned more and more horrified.

"So you're saying that you didn't see anyone in there at all?"

"No. I just saw the chute was open. I threw my cardboard in and shut the gate. I was aggravated you know? We're all supposed to take care of our own mess, but it looked like someone had just left their stuff out. I didn't see him in there! You have to believe me!"

"I do believe you Mr. Baxter. I think this was just a tragic accident."

"Noah was such a great guy you know? Always helping everyone out. Oh God, I killed him!" David Baxter dropped his head onto the table and started to cry. This was the part of the job that she hated aside from informing loved ones of a death. There was no way that this young man purposely took a life and now he'd have to live with the knowledge that he'd unintentionally killed someone during the course of his job.

XxXxX

Booth stood outside of his mother's house, sighing as he knocked on the door. He'd wanted some time away from her and Jennifer to completely analyze his feelings over seeing them, but this case seemed to get in the way of his plans. He'd come over as soon as Perotta called him with the conclusion of the case, and now he was dreading having to tell his mother what happened.

"Seeley? I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," Grace said as she opened the front door. All was quiet in the back, which meant that Alex was probably taking a nap and allowing the women a couple of hours to rest.

"Do you mind if I come in?"

"No, of course not. Would you like anything to drink?" Grace moved aside to allow Booth into the house and followed him to the living room.

"No thanks. I don't have much time, but I wanted to stop by to let you know that the investigation into Noah's death has been concluded." He watched as Grace sat down on the couch and folded her hands into her lap. Booth looked down at his own hands for a moment before turning his attention back to his mother. "After looking into all aspects of the case, it's been determined that Noah's death was an accident."

"An accident? How did they come up with that?"

"Noah climbed inside of the cardboard recycler to tamp down some boxes and he had a seizure. The next worker came through not knowing that anyone was down there..."He stopped as Grace shook her head and began to tear up.

"We've asked again and again that the recycler be replaced because of the number of times it gets clogged. I can't help but think that Noah would be alive if they'd only spent a little more money to get a better piece of equipment." Booth moved to the couch and sat down next to his mother, wrapping his arms around her. She took comfort in his hug, holding onto him as she silently cried.

"I'm really sorry mom. I know this is hard on you, and if you need anything from me, please just let me know."

"You've already done more than I could ask for given the situation. Can we get his body back now?"

"Yes. The Jeffersonian is releasing his remains to you. Did you want them delivered anywhere?"

"I haven't even looked into funeral homes. This is so hard Seeley."

"I know. Look, his remains are safe at the Jeffersonian. When you've made whatever arrangements you need, just give me a call and I'll make sure they get where they need to go, okay?" Booth could feel her nod into his shoulder. "Just call and I'll be here mom, I promise."


	11. Chapter 11

Booth woke up with a start, and for a moment he was confused about what woke him up. He lay still for a moment as he listened, and then he heard it. The baby cry sounded pitiful in the night and after taking a moment to rub the sleep from his eyes, he threw the covers back and climbed out of bed. As he headed down the hallway toward Jacob's room, a second cry started. Christine was awake and not happy about it. He paused in the hallway, not sure which child to get first when he heard Temperance murmuring in the baby's room. He made his way to his daughter's room and picked her up, trying to soothe her back to sleep. He hummed a bit, rocking back and forth as he felt her head growing heavy on his shoulder. Not ready to put her down just yet, he made his way to Jacob's room to see how Temperance was doing.

He stood in the doorway and watched as she rocked in a chair with the baby at her breast. She sang to him quietly, soothing the little man into contentment. Booth smiled. Was there anything better in life than this? Temperance turned to look at him and gave him an exhausted smile.

"I'm sorry the kids woke you up. I know you need sleep." Booth walked into the room and bent down to kiss Brennan on the lips.

"Hey, you need more sleep than I do baby. I'm going to put Chris down and when you're done I'll give you a massage. How does that sound?"

"I'm not the one with the bad back."

"No, but you are the one that popped a kid out about a week ago," Booth said and kissed her again. "Don't be too long." He left her in the room as he went to put his daughter to bed. It was tough to truly describe how content he was with his life. He had the woman he loved, children who made him proud and a great job. He was just happy damn it. Smiling, he put Christine down and headed back to his room. He laid down, waiting for Brennan and began thinking about everything that had happened recently.

Finding his mother was a surprise. He'd long ago thought that she'd died since she'd never contacted him after she left. Now she was back in his life and it was up to him to decide in what capacity she existed there. He wanted to keep her there, but he still felt hurt by her abandonment. His thoughts were interrupted as Temperance came back to bed. He sat up and waited until she settled next to him before he put his hands on her back and began to knead the muscles.

"Have I told you how beautiful you are?" Booth asked as he heard her moan.

"I don't feel beautiful. I feel fat and sore."

"No," he said, "motherhood looks good on you. I think you get prettier every day."

"While I'm sure that you're just saying that to make me feel better, I have to say that I appreciate the sentiment."

"You know I would never say something to you that I didn't mean." He leaned down and kissed her on the shoulder.

"Booth?"

"Yeah Bones?"

"I was thinking that I would take Angela up on the offer to throw us a 'meet the baby' party. She insists it's the proper thing to do since we didn't have a baby shower."

"If that's what you want to do then I don't see why not."

"How would you feel about having your mother and sister there?"

Booth was quiet for a long time as he contemplated her question. Did he want his mother and sister there? His mother was going through a tough time with the loss of her son, and maybe this would be a way to help her start to heal.

"Baby, if you want to invite them, then I'd be happy to have them here."

"Are you sure because I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I'll be fine. You invite who you want." She smiled up at him and closed her eyes, quickly falling to sleep under his talented hands.

XxXxX

Grace sat in her office, her hands over her face as she tried to fight off the absolute weariness that set upon her. She'd spoken with several mortuaries and cemeteries to get quotes for her son's burial. It was mentally exhausting but she had the information she needed to arrange the funeral.

"Mom, are you okay? Do you need anything?" Jennifer asked from the doorway. Grace looked back at her and gave a sad smile.

"No thank you, I'm okay."

"You let me know if you need anything." Jennifer left the room at her mother's nod. Grace sighed and closed her eyes, opening them when her phone rang. It took all of her will to pick up the call.

"Hello?"

"Yes, may I please speak with Mrs. Hawley?"

"Who is this?"

"My name is Temperance Brennan, I'm Seeley Booth's fiancee."

"Oh goodness dear, you shouldn't be using up your energy calling me. You should be resting."

"I assure you Mrs. Hawley I'm perfectly capable of making a call. I admit that I am more tired than usual but under the circumstances it's to be expected."

"I appreciate the explanation Temperance. What can I do for you my dear?"

"I realize that you're going through a grieving process right now, but I was hoping that you and your daughter would like to join us for dinner."

"I would love to take you up on your offer." Grace smiled at the hesitant sound in the anthropologist's voice. Relief was palpable on the other end of the line when Brennan spoke again.

"Then we'll see you this evening for dinner." Brennan gave her address to Grace and got off of the line. Grace felt an odd sense of peace come over her. While Noah was no longer around, she was slowly getting the rest of her family back.

XxXxX

"Booth, can you get the door please," Brennan yelled from Jacob's room as she tended to the screaming new born. Booth trotted over to the door after checking the food in the kitchen.

"Honey, how many people did you invite for dinner," he called back, having noticed the amount of food she had cooking.

"Just some family." Booth grumbled at her evasion of a response. Jared and Padme were already there at the house, as was Max Keenan. He knew that Russ and Amy weren't in town any longer, so they couldn't be there. He frowned for a moment. Who else would she have invited? The answer came when he opened the door.

"Mom? Jennifer?" Of course she would include them, he thought as he offered Grace a hug. He stepped aside to let them in, watching as Jennifer's son ran straight over to where Christine was playing. "It's good to see the two of you."

"I must say that I was quite surprised to get Temperance's invitation, but it's definitely a welcome distraction."

"How is all of the planning going, have you made the arrangements?" They walked into the living room to find Max, Jared and Padme looking at them. Grace's eyes met Jared's as she answered Seeley.

"Yes, I have all of the details finalized." She glanced briefly at Booth and returned her attention to Jared. "Hello Jared."

"Mom." He nodded to her and cleared his throat as he stood up. "I don't believe you've been properly introduced. This is my fiancee Padme. Padme, this is my mother, Grace and sister, Jennifer."

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you," Padme said as she stood and hugged both women, surprising everyone. "You'll have to tell me what Jared was like when he was little. All I ever get are stories where Seeley is saving the day."

"Well, that's about all I have too. Seeley just took over as dad when Jared was born. He was always such a charming little boy though."

"Then not that much has changed." Padme let go of Grace and led her to the couch. The woman sat down as Jared gave up his seat to Jennifer. Max watched everything going on quietly, moving to stand next to Jared.

"Hey kid, I know this is probably hard for you but give her a chance."

"Why does it matter to you whether or not I talk to my mother?" Jared asked Max as the older man kept his eyes on Grace.

"Because I've been in her place before. No matter what happened in the past, she loves you."

"You aren't going to try and put moves on my mom are you?" Booth asked as he joined the other two. Max smirked and shook his head.

"There's only room in my heart for Tempe and Ruth. No one could ever take her place in my life."

"That the reason you never remarried?"

"Well that and a life on the run isn't the best environment to foster a relationship." Max smiled as Temperance joined them in the living room. He held his hands out for the baby. "There's my little cracker jack."

"Cracker jack? Really? Are you trying to tun my kids into a baseball song?" Booth asked. When Brennan gave him a curious look, all three men began to sing. "Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack, I don't care if I ever get back..."

"Ah, I see. So because of the nicknames he's given the children, you're associating them with a song about a culturally significant pasttime." She passed by Max and headed to Grace. The older woman smiled up at Brennan and held out her arms for the baby.

"Oh isn't he just the sweetest thing." Grace took hold of Jacob, her eyes lighting up as she held the baby close. Both Temperance and Seeley smiled as Grace cooed at the baby.

"This is Jacob, or Cracker Jack according to my father. The little girl over there is our daughter, Christine. We adopted her at a few days old."

"She's beautiful." Again the proud parents beamed. Grace glanced back at her boys and found them watching her. It was Max however that drew her attention. He studied her with a twinkle in his eye. That man is trouble, she thought before turning back to the baby as Temperance and Padme talked with Jennifer.

XxXxX

"...so Jared comes racing in the house absolutely hysterical and said that the Commies had Seeley and I needed to come save him right now." Everyone laughed as Grace told the tale. The atmosphere was light and happy at the dinner table, any hostile or uncomfortable feelings forgotten in the company. "I honestly have no idea how Seeley got hurt; the boys never told, but he got a nasty scar out of it."

"And I'll still never tell," Booth said and took a gulp of beer. He looked at Brennan and gave a wink.

"You know I remember one time when Tempe was a little girl she had this doll with a string in the back, what was it called? Chatty Cathy. Anyway, her brother decided it would be a fun thing to scare her, so he hid and jumped out at her. 'Boo.' Tempe took the doll and whack, she hit him with it. I said no one would ever sneak up on her again. My wife said, 'she's just like you Max, just like you." Max told the story with a laugh and a bit of sadness to his eyes. Grace looked at him for a long moment, her head cocked to one side.

"What happened to your wife?"

"She died a while back, took my heart right with her," he said quietly and turned his attention toward his drink.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Grace said and reached a hand out to offer him some comfort. For a long moment no one at the table spoke until a cry sounded in the living room. Booth and Jennifer jumped up to avert whatever disaster Alex and Christine were starting. Grace pulled her hand away from Max and turned to Padme.

"So you haven't told me how the two of you met..."

XxXxX

"I think your mother is interested in my father," Temperance said once she and Booth were in bed that evening. She heard Booth's chuckle before he kissed her temple.

"I warned him off of her, although I really don't think that's going to mean anything."

"Well I don't know how Grace would take a murderer and reformed bank robber in her life. She had to be a little cautious with her relationships after your father."

"You know what I think? I don't think there could be a better choice for her, although I still don't want to think about our parents together."

"I don't know, I think they deserve to be happy."

"That they do Bones, that they do."


End file.
